Earl Thomas Conley Fire and Smoke Classic Powered By MVP Discs

SEE BELOW FOR FULL PLAYER MEETING EMAIL.
Welcome one and all to the Second Annual Fire & Smoke Classic! The Earl Thomas Conley Fire & Smoke Classic is a PDGA XC-Tier Tournament. Fire & Smoke is a cart friendly course located along the Ohio River with great views.

We will be playing 2 rounds of 18 holes at the redesigned ETC Riverside Park DGC which is now called Fire and Smoke DGC. We will have a shotgun start at 9am. 2nd round will likely start around 1:30. There will be the standard big bomber holes and some smaller ace run style holes.

Players Pack is to pick one Tournament Stamped disc from the following options:
Streamline Neutron Ascend
Axiom Neutron Crave
Simon Line Electron Medium Pixel
+ Free Raffle Ticket entry to win an Axiom Watermelon Bag, MVP Disc Rack, or other prizes!

We will have a few side games going as well including our putting challenge from Elevation discs.

If no ace is hit, ace pot will be donated towards the course fund for new teesigns.
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Where does my money go?

Ams
$35 to play (breakdown below)
$5 to Ace Pot
$12 to MVP Tournament Disc in players pack
$18 to Payout

Pros
$35 to play
$5 to Ace Pot
$30 to payout


FULL PLAYER MEETING/CADDY EMAIL
Hello Valued Players,

Thank you for signing up for the Earl Thomas Conley Fire and Smoke Classic 2024 Powered by MVP Discs at Fire and Smoke Disc Golf Course. If you have any questions please call Travis McNeilan at 937-217-5514.

Getting to the Course

The course is located within the Earl Thomas Conley Riverside Park at 15888 US-52, West Portsmouth, OH 45663. Registration will take place at Shelter B which is the second shelter on the left as you enter the parking lot past the bike pump track. You may park in the spots allotted for shelter B which are directly in front of the shelter and across the road in front of the shelter. You can also park in any available spots with the 6 lots around the flags past the shelter. Please do not park in front of shelter A as it is reserved and they may need those spots. Both registration and payout will take place at Shelter B.

Registration

Registration will take place at Shelter B beginning at 7:30 AM. Registration will close at 8:30 AM, and there will be a very brief meeting at 8:35 AM before the beginning of the round at 9:00 AM. Please try to arrive at the course no later than 8:00 AM to ensure that everyone can register, and that we are not delayed in starting.

If you cannot make the event or you know you will be late, please text me at 937-217-5514. Include your full name in your message.

Once you are registered, you can collect your player pack disc. We have 3 different MVP/Axiom/Streamline discs to choose from each with the tournament logo stamp. You can choose from:
Streamline Neutron Ascend
Axiom Neutron Crave
Axiom Simon Line Electron Medium Pixel

Weather

It will be hot! Please come prepared for these warm August temperatures with plenty of water, cooling towels, fans, etc. We will try to have a cooler with cold water bottles every 3 or 4 holes hopefully but at minimum will have at Hole 1 and 9. We will also attempt to have some popsicles for players.

Course Rules

The majority of the course will play as you would expect, according to the tee signs, if you have played the course before, with one major exception: ALL PROMINENT BEANS WILL PLAY AS OB AND FOR HOLE 17 THEY WILL PLAY AS HAZARD. Please see the hole notes below and on the PDGA Live Scoring app for clarification as the hole notes and this email are the FINAL rules for each NOT the hole signs.

If you disc lands OB, you will play your next shot 1 meter in from where you disc went out of bounds, and will take a penalty stroke.

The course is fairly straightforward to navigate. It is a large loop that goes back to the river bank. You can use the Udisc map to guide you.

Here is a course preview video. Each tee sign also has a QR code you can scan to jump to the hole you scan in the video.
https://youtu.be/wdptXmpUDG8?si=zr1Sz9drOjHxj0mX

All holes will be par 3, except holes 6 and 9, which will be par 4, for a total course par of 56.

The following notes will be listed on the PDGA live scoring which serves as your official caddy guide.

Hole 1 - No OB. Any water is casual.
Hole 2 - OB on or over path left and long. OB over the baseball field fence right.
Hole 3 - USE SPOTTER. OB beans on both sides of fairway. Imagine a straight line between white marking flags as OB line to make calls for discs on the edge.
Hole 4 - USE SPOTTER. OB beans on both sides of fairway. Imagine a straight line between white marking flags as OB line to make calls for discs on the edge.
Hole 5 - No OB. Any water is causal. CTP HOLE!
Hole 6 - No OB. Any water is causal. Be CAUTIOUS of the large holes in the ground in the flat landing zone to the left of the path to avoid injury. There is also stinging nettle in the rough.
Hole 7 - OB over bank long. CTP HOLE!
Hole 8 - OB over bank right. CTP HOLE!
Hole 9 - USE SPOTTER. OB over bank right. OB beans left. Imagine a straight line between white marking flags as OB line to make calls for discs on the edge.
Hole 10 - OB over bank right and long. CTP HOLE!
Hole 11 - OB over bank right.
Hole 12 - OB over bank right. CTP HOLE!
Hole 13 - USE SPOTTER. OB beans on the left.
Hole 14 - OB beyond posts left. The OB line is the BACK edge of the posts. So between the posts or touching the posts themselves would be in bounds.
Hole 15 - OB beyond posts left. The OB line is the BACK edge of the posts. So between the posts or touching the posts themselves would be in bounds. CTP HOLE!
Hole 16 – OB beans way right. CTP HOLE!
Hole 17 - USE SPOTTER. Beans for this hole will play as HAZARD. If you land in the beans including the walking path through them you play from where it lies and add a stroke. To be in bounds with no hazard stroke you must clear the line of YELLOW hazard flags on the other side of beans. CTP HOLE!
Hole 18 - USE SPOTTER. Double mandatory between trees in front of tee pad. OB on or beyond path right. OB Beans left. If missed mandatory proceed to the Drop Zone which is the between the mandatory trees. If mandatory was made but disc is OB you would play from where the disc was last in bounds. If mandatory made, but disc was NEVER in bounds (i.e. made mandos but was on or over path the whole flight) then re-tee from the tee pad. CTP HOLE!

I highly encourage all cards to please spot for one another especially on the holes where the beans are prominent. I assure you it will be well worth the extra time for someone to walk out to spot rather than spending time hunting for and losing discs.

Though the beans are a pretty good natural OB marker, almost like water, we have tried our best to place some white OB flags along the course to aid in making calls with the beans and “over the bank.” You will imagine a straight line connecting the flags as which will serve as the OB/hazard line when making close calls. The card will decide whether a disc is OB/hazard. If a majority decision is not reached (i.e. 2 players call in bounds and 2 call OB) then benefit will go to the player.

Park Rules & Facilities

Please ensure that you follow all the relevant rules for the Earl Thomas Conley Riverside Park. Maintaining a positive relationship with local courses is integral to putting on bigger and better events in the future.

Please ensure that you do not litter anywhere on the course. Trash cans will be located at the clubhouse, as well as by holes 1 (under large shelter) and 9. There will also be trash bags at the water stations.

Bathrooms are located next to the path on hole 18. There may also be a porta potty on hole 9 hopefully, but we are not sure yet, as parks has not replied to many follow-ups.

Scoring & Card Groups

Scoring for the event will be completed through PDGA Live. New PDGA rules (https://www.pdga.com/rules/official-rules-disc-golf/808) require ALL players must keep score for their entire card during their round, so please come prepared to keep score. Refusing to keep score could result in disqualification. At least one person on your card must complete the PDGA Live scorecard for the entire card throughout your round, although it is recommended that all players use PDGA Live to keep score, as this forces all scorekeepers to address any conflicts between scores before moving on to the next hole. If not all players are able to do this, an alternative format of scorekeeping, such as UDisc, or a paper scorecard, is acceptable. Regardless of method, all players should confirm scores after each hole, and should make a final review of the scorecards after the round before being officially submitted. An incorrect scorecard being submitted could result in a penalty.

To access live scoring, go to www.pdga.com/score or download the PDGA Live app.

The password to login to PDGA live scoring – FAS2024

Card groups and starting holes will be published tonight, but these will be subject to change as a result of no-shows and last minute changes. Please verify your starting hole and group immediately before the round.

Start Time

The round will begin at exactly 9:00AM, unless mentioned otherwise at the player's meeting. The player's meeting will finish approximately 15 minutes prior to the round starting to give player's sufficient time to reach their starting holes. There will be no horn to signify the 2 minute warning, or the beginning of the round. Instead, use the clock on your phone. You must be at your starting hole at the 2 minute warning, and you may not throw any practice throws once the 2 minute warning has passed. Any practice throws could be penalized.

Tie Break

In the event of a tie for first place in any division, the tied players will play holes 17 and 18 on repeat until the tie is broken. A coin shall be flipped to determine the tee order. The order shall then rotate after each hole.

Closest to the Pin (CTP) and Thank You Hole Sponsors/Fundraiser Disc Buyers!

First I want to thank Trevor McFann (Hole 15), Zach Baker (Hole 11), and Cheyne Barnhouse (Hole 8) for being Hole Sponsors! For Hole 15 Trevor even made his own personal special CTP prize pack to give away. And thank you to everyone who purchased a fundraiser disc when registering! You can pick those up anytime on the day of the tournament.

There are NINE CTP prizes available throughout the event! They are all the shortest holes on the course and all will be full-field but each player can only win ONCE. These will be on holes 5, 7, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, and 18 for ROUND 1 ONLY. If your disc lands closest to the pin, move the marking flag to the front of your disc and write your name on the next spot on the card. Towards the end of the round, if you are the last card to play a CTP hole, please pick up and return the marking flag and card to the registration area. The CTP winners will get to pick from a pool of discs. You can only win 1 CTP, but please write your name on ANY you get and just put a faint line through the names before you in case you already win a different one so that the prior person can win.

Immediately after the round, CTP prizes will be handed out to the winners.

Ace Fund

You are all in the ace pot which was included with the cost of registration. It was $5 each meaning it is worth about $180. If someone throws an ace during the round, they will win the entire fund. If multiple aces are thrown, the pot will be split evenly.

If an ace is not thrown, 100% of the pot will be donated to the course to help build the disc golf kiosk hopefully coming this summer.

Raffle for Axiom Watermelon Bag and MVP Disc Shelf and Other Prizes

As part of your entry fee, you will receive one entry into the raffle. If you would like to purchase additional tickets, you may do so at the time of sign in. Each ticket will cost $1 or $5 for 10 of them. We will accept cash, CashApp, PayPal, or Venmo. 100% of the ticket sales will be donated to the Southern Ohio Disc Golf Association.

Once the round is complete and CTPs given out, we will draw the raffle. You must be present at the time of the raffle to win. Please do not throw away your ticket until someone has successfully claimed the prize. If a ticket number is called and is not claimed, another number will be drawn until a winner is found. There will be at least 3 prizes with the Axiom Watermelon Bag and MVP Disc Shelf being the top 2. The first person drawn gets first pick and so on. You can only be drawn one time.

Payout

The projected payout for each division has been published. These are subject to change as a result of last minute sign ups / cancellations.

Once the round is complete, and all scorecards have been submitted, we will begin calculating payout. Those who win a payout will receive a signed paper voucher that lists their name, division, place, and payout amount. As a club, we will have over 500 discs to choose from and some additional merchandise.

Once you have found the items that you would like to buy with your payout voucher, bring the items and your voucher to a member of the team handling payout and they will help you check out. If you would like to purchase items valued higher than your payout voucher, you can pay the difference. We will accept cash, CashApp, Venmo, or PayPal. Those who do not win any payout also have the option of buying any of our inventory through these methods of payment.

PDGA Sanctioning, Membership, & Ratings

This event is a PDGA sanctioned XC-Tier event. As a result, all PDGA rules will apply. PDGA members will receive a rating for their rounds. Please ensure that you are familiar with all PDGA Rules and the Code of Conduct. In particular, please be courteous to your card mates and help others with respect to rules, tournament etiquette, finding lost discs, etc.

Feedback & Questions

Feedback about the event and the club is always welcome. We love running these events and we want to make them the best they can be. Whether the feedback is good or bad, we would love to hear it! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask, and I will ensure that they are answered in the player's meeting. There will also be one more email on Friday night that adds any new or missed information.

Thanks,
Travis McNeilan

Full Refund until August 15th, 2024 at 12pm. After that point, no refunds.

Southern Ohio Disc Golf Association is responsible for all refunds and cancellations.